Is Wisconsin Still 'America's Dairyland' Or Does It Need A New Slogan?by Hope Kirwan, NPRPosted: 2017-11-03 15:03:48 EST

Almost every state has its own license plate slogan. It's usually an attempt to promote the state's top attraction. Florida is the sunshine state, Arizona is the Grand Canyon state and Alaska is last frontier. Wisconsin is "America's Dairyland" — for now. Some people in Wisconsin are ready for that to change.

The slogan has been on Wisconsin license plates for more than 75 years, evoking images of red barns and peaceful fields full of black and white dairy cows. That perfectly describes Nordic Creamery, a small dairy farm in southwestern Wisconsin near La Crosse.

In the creamery's production room, owner Al Bekkum takes the time to hand-roll butter into 12 ounce logs and wrap them each in white paper.

"It's kind of like what butter was made 40, 50 years ago, " Bekkum says.